Thursday, 21 June 2012

How Debt Consolidation Works

By Cole Culen-Henderson


Stress. Fear. Frustration. All of these words are experienced by millions of Americans on a day-to-day basis, those that are struggling with debt. As debt continues to surround you, piling up to your neck and threatening to overwhelm you, it's time to do more than tread water. It might be time to consider debt consolidation.

Debt consolidation takes all of your bills from multiple sources and bundles them up into one neat bill, providing you with only one payment to deal with each month rather than the several you may currently be trying to manage.

Here's how debt consolidation works: the lender you choose to take out a debt consolidation loan with will work with the other sources of your bills, buying out your debt so that they can present you the balance in one lump sum of money. In some cases, this can take a load of stress off a person's shoulders.

The difficulty with having loans from multiple sources is how difficult it can be to keep up with your payments and due dates. It's a very easy thing to miss a payment because you're focused on a different one, or to have the due dates fall at different times between checks, making it difficult to make ends meet.

As bills pile up, they can severely and negatively affect your credit score. Your credit score is a reflection of how well you handle credit that is given to you. Late payments, missed payments, and things of this nature reflect poorly on your ability to handle credit. This in turn can make it difficult to do almost anything, such as finance a car or a house.

Don't continually fight with a bad credit score. Consider instead the option to merge your existing debt with a consolidation loan. Just remember that this won't be a fix for your situation and everything will be alright. It's a tool to help you climb out of the hole of debt that you've dug yourself into. The drawback is that debt consolidation still involves a loan, and with a loan comes interest.

With a debt consolidation loan, you end up paying for the convenience of having only one bill. This is because when your lender buys up your debt, he has to turn around and offer you the loan at a higher interest rate in most cases. This is standard procedure for most banks and lending institutions as it is, to safeguard themselves against faulty loanees.

If you have a bad credit score, it's a safe bet that you'll be dealt a higher interest rate. If this is the case, it might be a better idea to manage your debts on your own terms. Debt consolidation should be considered, but only as a last ditch if you've exhausted your other options. This is especially true if you're facing bankruptcy or foreclosure.




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